The Minnesota Vikings have won nine straight games. They closed out their 2025 campaign with five consecutive victories and have opened this season with four straight triumphs.
In their four wins they have only scored 86 points … but their pressure defense has held opponents to 51 total points. This offseason, their major acquisition was to bring in quarterback Kyler Murray who had spent seven seasons with the Arizona Cardinals after being the number one overall draft selection in 2019.
The Vikings, who benefited from having Sam Darnold lead their team to 14 wins two seasons ago, allowed him to move on to Seattle while they stayed committed to second year and 2024 first round draft selection J.J. McCarthy. Darnold went on to become only the second quarterback in history to lead his team to back-to-back 14 win seasons and capped his first year in Seattle with a Super Bowl win.
Meanwhile, the Vikings were left out of the playoffs as McCarthy was no more than average when he played and was injured for more games than he was available during his two seasons in Minnesota. The pattern of the Vikings having trouble keeping their quarterback healthy reared its ugly head when Murray was injured in the opening quarter of the opening game and missed two weeks of action.
Fortunately, veteran Carson Wentz provided enough offense to outscore the Green Bay Packers in the opener and gain a second straight victory in his second week start against the Chicago Bears. Murray was back behind center when the Vikings beat the Buccaneers in Tampa and last week when they outscored the Miami Dolphins at U.S. Bank Stadium.
More than Murray being the reason for the Vikings success is their suffocating defense. Defensive Coordinator Brien Flores coaches a pressure attack that sends more blitzes at opposing quarterbacks than any team in the league. The Vikings blitz more than two out of every three plays, the next highest blitz percentage this year in the NFL is 44%. The Vikings lead the league in quarterback sacks with 16 and it is their stop unit that is most responsible for their nine-game winning streak.